Can Electric Skates Run On The Road?

The off road electric scooters will have its own regulation soon. At the moment, cities such as Madrid and Valencia work in mobility ordinances. Barcelona went ahead last Friday approving the new regulations for scooters, segways (the brand that popularized them), electric wheels and platforms, tricycles and cargo and tourist bikes. In the capital, the Department of the Environment confirms that it is holding meetings with all affected sectors, including cyclists and taxi drivers. And in Valencia they expect to have regulations for “the last quarter of the year”. Holland and Germany have already regulated it.

Electric scooters are starting to gain their own space on the busy sidewalks of Spanish cities. They are a way to move ecologically and efficiently. Some can reach speeds of 24 kilometers per hour, but are required to share space with pedestrians.

Amadeo Tusell, of the company KPsport , recommends that it be circulated in the bike lane or on the sidewalk “with a helmet and respecting pedestrians” in those cities that do not yet have their own regulations. On the asphalt are prohibited. Although Tusell hopes that the regulations that are underway are similar to those that have bicycles.

This is what Barcelona has done. Its City Council has approved a series of measures that divide Personal Mobility Vehicles (VMP) into five categories.

All of them must get off the sidewalks to leave them free to pedestrians. The electric scooters, encompassed in the first category, must circulate on bike lanes or single-platform streets, where pedestrians always have priority. Those of greater size will be able to also circulate through pacified routes, in which the maximum speed is of 30 kilometers per hour.

Where do you think should circulate personal mobility devices such as scooters and electric scooters? On the road, sidewalk or reserved lanes? Should its use be limited in certain areas of the city? “We still cannot respond to this, but we are working on a solution,” they point out from the Environment area.

In Valencia there is no legislation and has been recently when they have started the procedures: it will not be until the last quarter of the year when these devices will be covered by an ordinance, say municipal sources.

The company KPsport, specialized in this means of transport, explains that its use is only regulated in two countries in Europe: Holland and Germany. “In the Netherlands it is where ecological mobility is being promoted the most, in fact, they have prohibited the circulation of gasoline vehicles in the center of the city and all public services are electric”, they point out. The company explains that Germany has added to the incentive “enabling bike lanes in parks or transit areas and other public spaces and all electric transports are cataloged as bicycles so they share the same regulations”.

The Segway Company was very optimistic in its beginnings: they intended to sell 50,000 units in the first year, but in the first 24 months they barely reached 6,000. The price, which started for $ 5,000, condemned him soon. So bad was the fortune in which even the former president of the USA. UU George W. Bush had a small accident with one of these devices. With the increasingly urgent closure of the city centers for cars, the electric skates have the opportunity to gain a place among the alternatives of ecological urban mobility. These devices cost around 700 euros, work by electric charge and do not emit polluting gases.